This weekend the Pirates only had to play 23 innings of baseball, in thanks to two 7 inning mercy rules over the Cincinnati Bearcats as part of a 3-game sweep. The sweep over the Bearcats took the Pirates to 7-2 in conference play, one game ahead of 2nd place Houston who dropped a game over the weekend to South Florida.
The Pirate pitching was solid, but hitting was the story of the weekend. The Pirates hit seven home runs, scored 32 runs and batted .373 on the weekend. The true star of the weekend was Josh Moylan who hit a home run in each of the three contests. After Sunday’s game Moylan was asked about the weekend he had at the plate and he said, “My swing feels great right now. It’s more about laying off pitches that are low in the zone, early in the count.”
The Pirates dropped two of their first three games in conference play but have been on a tare ever since winning eight straights games six of which have been against AAC opponents, and three of them have been by mercy rule. With the perfect 4-0 week last week the Pirates are up number seven in the D1baseball rankings, and look to build on their six game conference winning streak but it won’t be easy. The team travels to Wichita State this weekend to take on a team in which they are 8-8 against all time. The Pirates do have a winning record at Wichita, but it’s not much to brag about as they are 4-3.
With the weekend sweep the Pirates have won nine straight over the Bearcats who are the only team the Pirates will see twice this season. The 2nd series begins on May 5th in Cincinnati.